30 December 1932
Daisy De Melker was a nurse believed to marry men, only to kill them for financial gain. She married three times and killed two of her husbands and her son. All the men she married were plumbers and, the two that she allegedly poisoned, left her with large sums of money. She used the substance Strychnine to poison both her husbands and arsenic, to kill her son.
De Melker was only convicted of the murder of her son and not of her two husbands because of lack of evidence. The motive for the murder of her son was never clear. It was suspected that he may have been pestering her with his father’s inheritance since he was approaching the age of 21. De Melker was hanged on 30 December 1932.
References
Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau|Africa Crime-Mystery, (2003), SOUTH AFRICA'S MOST FAMOUS POISONER, from Africa Crime-Mystery, [online], Available at www.africacrime-mystery.co.za [Accessed: 20 November 2012]|Randall, M., (2010), Daisy De Melker - SA's Poisonous Femme Fatale, from About South Africa, 12 September [online], Available at about-south-africa.com [Accessed: 20 November 2012]